Posted By FarmerJ on November 7, 2009

It’s nesting season here at the Farmstead.  The daily activities for the past couple of months now have centered around harvesting all the food from the garden and making preparations for winter.  Winter may as well be a synonym for lock-down.  It’s a time when the doors and windows stay closed and sealed tight ~ well, that last part is something we’re still working on…but we’re making a little headway.

Anyway, as part of preparing the house for lock-down, I’ve decided to clean the carpet.  I have a Hoover SteamVac with Clean Surge, which I’ve been very pleased with.  I am impressed with its ability to really clean for as little as it is.  Plus, I like the fact that it has two water tanks to keep the clean water separate from the gray black water.  And, it’s easy to maneuver without breaking your back unlike some other Brand X machines ~ so you don’t have to spend the money you saved cleaning your own carpets at the chiropractor.

I had mentioned to a friend of mine that I am in the process of cleaning the carpet, and she asked what I was using to clean it with.  I happily shared with her information and my experience using the SteamVac, and of course, told her that I’ve not had any problems with it after nearly four years of use.  Jinx!

The very next day I go to use Hoover to clean the living room carpet, I notice a problem.  The little spinny deal [that's a technical term] that spins to indicate the brushes are spinning wasn’t indicating.  That’s no good.  If the brushes don’t spin, then all Hoover does is deposit water onto the carpet and suck it back up.  Not a whole lot of cleaning action going on.

I immediately did a little troubleshooting.  I turned the machine upside down,  removed the brush component and gave it a whirl.  Yep, spins just fine.  Popped it back into place, put Hoover upright, turned the switch on.  Stationary spinny deal.  Sigh. Hoover went back upside down, the brush component came off, and a metal kabob skewer was inserted into the brush drive shaft to see if a little moxie wouldn’t do the trick.  No such luck.  Realizing I may soon be the one doing the spinning, I went to the outlet and unplugged Hoover.  I highly recommend you do that before inserting metal objects into your machine’s inner workings.

So, I once again empowered myself with Google ~ I do believe you can find the answer to anything through Google.  Within minutes, I was 99.3% sure I had pinpointed the problem.  There would be one of three results of my discoveries.  I’d either find and be able to fix the problem, or I’d find broken plastic pieces and have to order new parts.  Lucky for me, I was able to find and fix the problem!

The problem had to do with the gear drive mechanism.  Sometimes, as I learned, the gear drive shaft will cease up and will need a little coaxing to start turning again.  And, sometimes one of the plastic gears will crack.  That’s where you’ll end up ordering new parts.  The third problem creates itself when the spring on the brush spin speed contraption [another technical term] pops off.  That’s an easy fix ~ you don’t even have to remove the gear drive mechanism to fix that one!

So!  In this session of Farmer J’s Tool Time, I’ll share with you how to repair the gear drive mechanism on your Hoover SteamVac ~ and if you don’t have one, I still highly recommend you get one.

The only tool you’ll need is a pretty purple flower print screwdriver.  There are a total of 12 screws you will be removing.

Remove the brush component, then remove the 5 screws that hold the top cover in place ~ there is 1 screw on top and 4 along the underneath leading edge.  Once you remove the top cover, you will see the gear drive mechanism located closest to you as you face the machine.

(Now, if it’s the spring on the brush spin speed contraption that’s disconnected and become your problem, just simply reconnect the spring appropriately and replace the top cover.  You’re good to go!)

Here’s a picture of that spring, just so you can see what I’m talking about.

Next, remove a total of 5 screws which hold the mechanism in place ~ 2 located on the top and 3 located underneath.  Once you have the gear drive mechanism in your hands ~ and you shoo away any thoughts questioning yourself whether you know what you’re doing or if you should just wait until your Darling Husbie gets home ~ remove the last 2 screws from the underneath side of the mechanism.  Then, there are 3 little plastic ‘catches’ that hold the mechanism pieces together.  Just carefully release those catches and separate the top from the bottom.

This is inside the top section of the gear drive mechanism.  See the little white flapper deal?  Well, that’s the piece that controls the brush spin speed by use of the aforementioned spring and vacuum force.  When the lever is in the ‘Off’ position, the door is closed and the brushes will not spin.  When the lever is in the ‘Lo’ position, the door is half open [or half closed, for those of you who think like that] and the brushes spin slowly.  When the lever is in the ‘Hi’ position, the door is all the way open and the brushes spin more quickly.

Here is the lower section of the gear drive mechanism.  You’ll notice right away if one of the plastic gears is cracked.  If so, it’s time to empower yourself with Google and get some parts ordered.  I was delighted to see my gear were intact and still had plenty of goop [yet another technical term] on and around them.

Here is that same section with the gears now removed.  The culprit to my problem stemmed from the gear drive shaft, which is at the very top in this photo, being ceased up.

I still couldn’t turn the shaft itself with my fingers, but the power of leverage is wonderful.  On the back side of the lower section of the gear drive mechanism is a large dial, for lack of being able to think of anything else to call it.  That dial turns the gear drive shaft.  I could turn that dial, but noticed right away that the entire assembly had become goobered up, and thus caused the shaft to cease.

While I sat there trying to remember if Darling Husbie had replaced any of his Goober-Be-Gone spray, I kept turning the dial back and forth.  The more I turned it, the looser it became, until finally it was able to spin freely when I gave it a good whirl.

Yay!  I was back in business!  The only thing left was to remember how and in what order I’d removed things ~ and do an ‘about face.’  For a moment, I thought I’d ended up with extra parts, but no.  I got it all back together and still had time to get the living room carpet cleaned.

So, there you have it.  You now, too, know how to fix the gear drive mechanism on a Hoover SteamVac.  And, the best part about it ~ besides saving money by not rushing out to buy a new one?  The ‘atta girl’ from Darling Husbie!  ♥

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